NEWS & EVENTS

Dordt College News

Blades Return To Home Ice Against Pioneers

The games…the Dordt Blades hope to snap a five game skid when they hit the ice for a pair of games against the University of Wisconsin-Platteville this week. The Blades and Pioneers will face off at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 1st in the Vernon Arena in Sioux Center and the two teams will return to Dordt’s home sheet again on Saturday, November 2nd at 4:15 pm.

The Opponent…the University of Wisconsin-Platteville is an MACHA Silver West Conference foe and enter the weekend with a 4-4 overall record and a 1-1 mark in conference play. The Pioneers started the season splitting a pair of games with D2 University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, then picked up two wins over Bradley before losing a pair to Waldorf. The Pioneers' first conference opponent was Missouri State and the two teams each picked up a win with the Pioneers taking the first game 3-0 before falling to the Ice Bears 6-4 the next day.

The Pioneers have scored 27 goals in eight games and have been scored on 24 times.

Riley Zehner leads the Pioneers with 13 points on seven goals and six assists. Abe Liebel enters the weekend with eight points and Daniel Suedbeck has seven.

Andrew Hornick has spent every minute in goal for the Pioneers, postingtwo shut-outs in those eight outings. Hornick has a 3.00 goals against average and a save percentage of .921, facing 304 shots and turning away 280.

The Blades…are 2-5 on the year and 0-2 in conference play, Dordt started the season with two wins over Augustana (IL) before dropping two conference games at home to the Hawkeyes and three non-conference outings on the road in Colorado.

Nic Enerson leads the Blades with eight points. Enerson is averaging a goal a game and also has one assist. Dylan Van Dyk has seven points on two goals and a team-high five assists and David Prins has six points, pocketing two goals and adding four helpers. Eric Huitsing and Kevin Vermeer each have five points.

Riley Braun is 1-5 in goal for the Blades and has a 5.03 goals against average with a save percentage of .856. The senior netminder has made 184 saves in his five outings.

History…the Pioneers and Blades have played each other just three times, with the first contest dating back to November 22, 2008 when the Blades dominated the Pioneers 9-1 in a game that was part of Dordt’s Clash in the Corn tournament. The Blades played UWP twice on the road last season, dropping both by scores of 5-2 and 8-1.

Last time out…the Blades played three games in Colorado, losing to Northern Colorado 11-5, Colorado State 7-2 and the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs 5-2. In the final game of the road trip, against UCCS, the Lions' Cameron Dacuma had the lone goal of the first period to give UCCS a 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes of play. Dacuma tacked on another goal in the second period and Cody Johnson tallied as well to give the Lions a 3-0 cushion. Dordt bounced back with tallies coming from David Prins and Eric Huitsing to make it a 3-2 Lions lead after two periods. UCCS added a goal at the 18:25 mark of the third period for the 4-2 lead and picked up an empty netter late in the contest for the 5-2 win. Riley Braun had 28 saves in the loss for Dordt College while Jesse Palmer turned away 24 to pick up the win in goal for the Lions.

New conference affiliation…the Dordt Blades have joined the Mid-America Collegiate Hockey Association (MACHA) which has schools in two separate divisions (Gold and Silver) and Dordt College will be a part of the Silver Division. Western Conference schools include: Iowa, Iowa State, University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Missouri State (D3), Nebraska and Dordt.
The top two teams from the North, Central and West will make the playoffs, plus 2 wild card spots determined by winning percentage.

The Coaches…John Langeraap begins his first year as Head Coach of the Blades after serving for four years as an assistant. Langeraap helped the Blades to their third straight American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) D3 National Tournament in 2010 and has been involved with hockey for more than 40 years. Langeraap was
involved with the Sioux Center Hockey Association (SCHA) at its inception in 2003, and he has served as the association’s board president while also coaching at multiple levels in the SCHA prior to becoming an assistant for the Dordt Blades.
Langeraap will be assisted by Jon Gesink.